CONWAY | What sets Shaftesbury Glen apart from most other courses on the Grand Strand are elevated greens on all 18 holes.

The elevation, which is significant in many instances, is a prime reason why the seven-year-old 6,935-yard Clyde Johnston design is predominantly a second-shot golf course. It combines with a multitude of sprawling bunkers featuring numerous fingers that reach up to the edge of the putting surfaces to make approach shots difficult.

You can't see the bottom of the pin from the fairway or tee of any hole, so you have to trust the pin placement sheet, which is detailed with six pin locations on each green.

``It's difficult to get it close to the hole because of the depth of the greens, firmness of the greens and because you can't tell exactly where the pins are on the greens,'' said Manny Clark, a member of a review foursome that played the course in late April. ``The pins on some holes were tucked away pretty snug. That forced me to hit a fade or draw into some greens.''

Clark, a student in the Professional Golf Management program at Coastal Carolina University, was joined by me, his classmate and 13-handicap Hannah Kim, and Foster's Cafe & Bar owner Don Fonda, a 15-handicap.

If you miss the green on your approach, getting up and down is difficult because the ball is inevitably below the green and the bunkers are deep, sloped and penalizing. ``You have to have a good short game here to score well,'' Hannah said. ``You should practice your bunker shots before you play out here.''

Shaftesbury is made more into a second-shot course by wide fairways that don't deter use of a driver. ``You could hit your driver 14 times,'' Manny said. ``You really don't have to think much [off the tee] on this course.''

The entire course was well manicured, including tees, fairways, bunkers and A1 bentgrass greens, which have been notoriously good since the course opened in 2001. The greens have some consistent slopes but few rolling undulations, except for the deep 18th green with a valley separating the front from the back.

``The course was immaculate,'' Manny said. ``The greens were really true and fairly fast. This is a great course. I would recommend it to the above-average player.''

The sand is full and fluffy. ``It's some of the better sand I've played around here,'' Don said.

The course has formidable length of 6,445 yards from the white tees and nearly 6,000 yards from the gold, but it's short at 4,976 from the red. With her length off the tee, Hannah would play from the gold on any future visits. ``I didn't really have to use my long clubs,'' Hannah said. ``I didn't use my 6-, 5- or 4-irons unless it was a par-5. It wasn't challenging. There weren't any hazards to hit over.''

Likes

Manny found there was much to like about the course's conditioning. ``The greens were rolling great,'' he said. ``The bunkers had a good amount of sand and it wasn't very granular. Tee boxes were flat and well-maintained. Fairways were well-kept. Holes were cut perfectly [by the maintenance crew].''

The greens were Hannah's favorite feature of the layout, and Don enjoyed the fact that he didn't record a three-putt in the round despite the course's expansive greens. ``I love fast greens, especially when they go where you read them,'' he said.

There is some housing around the course but it doesn't encroach upon play. The 17th hole is the only area where out of bounds (OB) stakes are in sight.

The course also has some of the area's best local rates, fluctuating between $35-$44 throughout the year.

Dislikes

The group thought the course was too straightforward, especially all four par-5s. ``Everything was pretty straight,'' Don said. ``I don't think there was one true dogleg. There's no real scenario to cut a corner.''

It was difficult to stop the ball on Shaftesbury's large but firm greens. ``The greens could have been a little softer considering it is not a tour-preferred course,'' said Manny, who also thought some pins were tucked a little too unfairly, including one on the par-3 15th.

``Every green was elevated and so large that it was nearly impossible to judge where exactly to hit it,'' Manny said.

Hannah thought the par-3s were too short, measuring between 100 and 120 yards from the red tees, and she was disappointed there wasn't a more difficult par-5.

Par-3s

The group thought the par-3s were the strength of the course. ``They were beautiful par-3s,'' Manny said. ``They had good yardages and were challenging for the most part. Some pins were unfair, however.''

The 166-yard fourth hole measured 148 from the white tees and had bunkers pinching the front left and front right of the green, and the 210-yard eighth measures 185 from the white and is the most difficult par-3. It has water to the left and three bunkers around the green, though like most holes on the course, the front middle of the green was open.

The 175-yard 11th is 157 from the white, features a shallow green and has bunkers front left and front right, and the 200-yard 15th is 177 from the white and has bunkers front right and back left, leaving little room for error.

``Three out of four had tough pin placements,'' Don said. ``I thought the par-3s were the toughest holes even if [two] were around 150 yards because the pins were tucked behind bunkers. It made you think about what you wanted to hit and where you wanted to hit it.''

Par-4s

The course begins with a trouble-free 400-yard par-4, and the 414-yard third has water down the left side of the fairway, a green that turns to the right and wetlands to the right that approach a bunker to the front right of the green.

The most difficult par-4 is the 450-yard ninth, which measures 425 from the white and has a creek angling from the right to left, cutting off the fairway 150 yards from the green on the right and 100 on the left.

``The course had some difficult par-4s,'' Don said. ``With the elevated greens, pretty much every hole had a challenging approach shot.''

The 14th is 430 yards and has bunkers 270 yards down the fairway on both sides, the 17th is 363 yards with OB to the right, and the course has a tough closing hole. The 435-yard 18th is 410 from the white and has a high-lipped bunker on the right side of the fairway, water deep down the left side and a deep green surrounded by five bunkers with a valley in the middle of the green.

Manny thought several par-4s were long from the tips - especially with many playing into the wind. ``Some were a little too long from the back tees and the elevated greens made them play even longer,'' he said. ``They were all straight and I was not forced to shape any tee shots.''

Par-5s

The par-5s don't have a lot of variety but do vary in length. The par-5s on the front nine are difficult to reach in two shots, as the second hole measures 579 yards and the fifth is 537 and turns gently from left to right. On the back nine, the 13th is 519 and just 497 from the white, and the 16th is 520 and 498 from the white. All of the par-5s have either very or fairly accessible greens.

``The par-5s were basically all the same and there were no risk-reward options,'' Manny said. ``Every par-5 was dead straight with an elevated green that was 45 yards deep.''

The second hole has water down the left side, the fifth has a tree in front of the green to the left that can come into play, the 13th has a trio of bunkers to the left of the green, and the 16th has water deep down the right fairway and a few trees to the left of the green.

Favorite holes

Manny liked the 18th hole ``because it called for a challenging second shot,'' he said. ``The green was narrow and sloping.''

Hannah enjoyed the par-4 sixth and 14th holes, which measured 254 and 308 from her tee. She liked the break the sixth hole presented, though it had water well left off the tee and a pair of bunkers right of the green.

Don liked all of the par-3s ``because of the difficult pin placements,'' he said. ``Club selection was important.''

Least favorite holes

Manny didn't care much for the 10th hole, a short, straightforward par-4. ``It didn't fit on this course because it was [only] 360 yards and the green was so elevated that you are short-sided no matter what you do,'' Manny said.

Hannah enjoyed the 17th the least because of the difficulty of the green, and Don would have liked more imagination in all of the par-5s, and the par-4 12th, which runs parallel in the same direction as the par-5 second, and both have wide fairways. ``This is kind of a throw-away hole,'' Don said. ``It's just there. It's like the other hole alongside it.''